The HOPE Project
by TheJacksonRobinette
Summary: Zombies, romance, comedy, violence, and action. What more could you want? (Chapters will be posted irregularly) Zombie characteristics based off of Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide. ***Cussing, violence, gore, etc.***
1. Intro Pt 1, Jackson

**_Prologue_**

In the year 2021, world war 3 was raging throughout the world. Russia had bombed several U.S embassies. Russia, which had recently been captured by North Korea, was under the rule of dictator Yin Rung Un. He then set his sights on America. Knowing he'd be outgunned, Rung Un started research into human strength manipulation. By the use of an element, later named solanum, he was able to create aggressively violent killing machines. The 'creatures' that came out of the testing chambers could not feel any pain, nor could they be infected by any diseases. They had no conscious or memory of their former self. Un had created the worlds first zombie…

**_1. _****_The Beginning_**

_Jackson _

He stared down the sights of his gun. _What are we even doing here? _He thought to himself. Jackson Robinette was a para-rescue jumper in the United States Air Force. Usually, he and his squad were dispatched to rescue injured marines and sometimes as back-up if they were close. But this time was different. They were called in to escort a 'priority package' as they called it. It was actually a U.S senator who had just been released by the Russian-Korean Republic.

"Hey, Cap. The fuck are we doin' here anyway? I mean, why do they need to use my medical expertise to escort some soft bellied politician? This is a job for the rangers or somethin'," complained the SAW gunner and medic Private Wallace. He was from Georgia and had a strong accent and a love for shooting, but was loyal to those he trusted and a good friend to Jackson.

"Calm down there Mikey. We'll be outa here soon enough. And besides, they needed the best of the best. And who better than us five?" Jackson responded.

"Aye, sir," the squad said in unison.

"Alright boys, here comes the package," the captain said.

As soon as the words had escaped his mouth he heard a loud _BANG! _ And the senator's head had a giant hole in it.

"CONTACT!" someone screamed as another _Bang_ was heard and the shot gunner in the squad fell to the ground dead.

"FIND COVER," Wallace yelled the Para-jumpers hid behind a cement road barricade. Cptn. Robinette's heart was pounding. We had been in numerous fire fights before, he'd even held off a 50 man charge with just him and Mike while the rest of his unit tended to the injured they had been sent in to help. But this was a completely different kind of situation. Never before had he seen a sniper do that much damage. The senator only had half a head. And Guzzo, the shot gunner, had his entire chest cavity blown out. And only with one shot. _I will get out of this, _He thought. He had the ring in his pocket and was going to propose to his girlfriend of six years, Kyla Ritt, the second he got back. The captain steadied his breath and held it, drew his gun up, aimed, and fired a single shot from his M4A1. The bullet flew with amazing accuracy and hit the sniper right between the eyes. _I'm going home_…


	2. Intro Pt 2, Kyla

**_Prologue Pt. 2_**

Un sat alone, thinking about what he had ordered his men to do. The Senator, whom he had just had dinner with, was now lying dead in the streets of Kor-Russia with a grapefruit sized hole in his head. _He had known too much, I had to do what I did_. The ruthless dictator's conscious was now riddled with doubt. _What if he was going to keep his promise, and was going to keep this all confidential?_ The zombies, whom he had mass produced thanks to the sacrifice of countless villagers, were ready for release. Once free, they would continue to spread their disease and wreak havoc amongst the world. And he alone would be the only one who could control them…

_2. Kyla_

_ Is he okay?_ She wondered, driving in her red SUV on the empty roads of the highway. She's been thinking about him more and more lately, she knew that before he had always returned, but anything could happen. Kyla Ritt was the girlfriend (for six years) of Captain Jackson Robinette, who was a Para-rescue Jumper in the Air Force, which as she had known, along with the thousands of soldier's wives and girlfriends, this was a dangerous, risky job. Not only was he jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, but he also engaged in countless battles while he was serving his country and protecting his comrades.

She had been worried sick, and this train of thought had distracted her from the road, where she suddenly was brought back to reality when a sudden 'thump' had been produced as her car was hit by an object. She had run right over something. _Must just be a speed bump_. She told herself in her head, but then she realized that this was the highway, and there were no speed bumps. "What the hell?" She said aloud, and she pulled over the ruby red Ford Explorer. She looked behind her, and what had she seen? A dead body. _Did…. Did…. Did I just-…_ She couldn't allow herself to think of it. She couldn't think she had killed a man, it was impossible. She was almost relieved when the body started to get up, troubled with guilt and willing to help the man, she ran over to the bloody man. "Are you oka-…" She started to say, but when she saw the man's intestines completely hanging out she screamed and ran back to her car.

_How the hell was he alive? This can't be real. Am I dreaming?_ But she knew this was no dream, she could tell what was real and what wasn't, and this was all reality. She got in her car quickly and sped away; trying to force the memories of what she had seen out of her mind. _Maybe Jackson can explain when he gets back… IF he gets back…_


	3. Intro Pt 3, John

**_Prologue Pt. 3_**

As the plague began to spread in Kor-Russia, Un sat in thought and wonder. _Could it be beginning in America? _Un asked himself this, as he turned on the news from his flat screen TV. (In the year 2016, Un had banned any outside television programs, but he allowed himself to catch any channel he wants, often times exchanging "goods" for being allowed to watch shows such as American Idol, Family Guy, and even Tom and Jerry) Un proudly stared at the broadcast. The headline read _"Man Ran Over and Alive, or is He?"_ His plan had started. World War 3 was in the bag.

_3. John_

_Ugh, story of my life_ He thought as he stared into his iPhone. He was staring at a picture on an app, "iFunny". _When a girl wants a kiss, they stare into your eyes, biting their lip. They always wrap their arms around you. They play with your hands and wait for you to make a first move. When a guy wants a kiss, they hold your hand and always play with it. They stare into your eyes for a long time and get close to your face. When __I__ want a kiss, I stare at you from a distance and sob uncontrollably, because I'm ugly and no one likes me_ He reread in his head. _Yep, that's me._ He put his smart phone back in his pocket as he looked at his Mac 8000's bright screen, and he checked out the news which had appeared on his email alert. _"Man Ran Over and Alive, or is He?"_ He read this, quickly getting shivers down his spine. Something bad was going to happen, he just KNEW it. He looked around, and he saw his bland, nerdish room. Posters, cutouts, Pokémon games, all sprawled out on his drawers. He was scared, he wasn't afraid to admit it. But admit it to whom?

John ran to his dresser, grabbed a key, and started going quickly to his basement, which he called a "man cave"…._Lame…_ His parents weren't around, and they didn't care what he did in his spare time, so he had avoided other people (Anti-social prick) by spending his time distracting his anxiety problems by building a safe fort in case of an emergency. The 16 year old had stocked his "fort" with food, water, a water purifier, various equipment such as handheld flashlights which you crank the power, year's supplies, possibly a decade supplies, of candles, books, manuals on survival, cards for entertaining himself, and some small guns (some illegal bigger ones, but no one knows about those.) He was ready for anything.

Any major disaster he could come here where he had managed to cover the walls with a few feet thick layer of concrete, had light that didn't need electricity, and had enough food and water to supply a family of 5 for at least 8 years, as well as getting his minerals from things such as the sun's light (Which he didn't get much of in the first place) from Vitamin D lamps. He had thought of anything and everything. He was ready for this, but as he recalled what had happened, the picture on the headline of the man, half alive it seemed, trying to stand up with legs that were practically flat and still trying to move, it made him wonder.

He had to reassure himself, he couldn't let his worries, the cause of most problems in his life, hurt him now. _You're ready for anything John…. You prepared for this for years. You're ready to take on any danger, any disaster, any threat, hell; you could take on a minor bombing. But what the hell is this? Are you ready… for this?_


	4. Intro Pt 4, William

_**Prologue Pt. 4**_

Un recalled the events which had taken place leading to the news headlines. Un had sent the infected patients of the Solanum to the United States via any means possible. There were boats, planes, and even a failed underwater train ride, which, in the process, led to thousands of people trapped under the waters. He knew some ways were successful, as this was clearly his work. While the news on this man continued to escalate, more and more appearances started showing up in America. California, New York, Florida, and Texas were the main spots. Groups of these should-be-dead men trying to crawl around, one bystander even stated a few had no hearts, literally. Un had known that soon, they would start attacking, not out of a terroristic threat, but because of their craving for the human flesh. They would attack out of a hunger and destroy the United States in the process. Now all that was needed was time.

_4. Will_

_Come on! Come on! Come on! _William Shepherd repeated this in his head, pressing the buttons on his Game Zone controller viciously, and he pushes down on the "2" button which is located in the upper right hand corner of the rectangular controller, and it launches a grenade in his game, "Last Survival:5". Last Survival was the brand new game series of a zombie apocalypse, and it was the biggest thing to hit gaming in years. It was, in many people's opinions, the greatest game of all time. The game had graphics by using real picture technology, which was just copying pictures and pasting it into a frame of a character, which placed a REAL image in the game. Also, the game play was out of this world, the plot was amazing, and the multiplayer was grand. That was what William was playing right now. _COME ON!_ He shouted in his head, being aware not to shout too loud and alarm his mother, who was sleeping. Seeing as how the 24 year old man still lived in his mother's basement playing video games, he at least tried his best at Last Survival. He was one of the final 10 players in a group of 2,000 not to be dead, and he NEEDED to be the Last Survivor to win the tournament for this month. He kept going, checking his gun through kicking out the barrel in it, a feature capable by strings attached to the gun. 2 Shells were left. This wasn't going to end well. Will forced his character to grab a grenade and toss it, but his character was yanked backwards, being pulled. Will forcefully smashed the 1 Button, and he couldn't have this happen. More of the zombies approached Will and attacked him. Will checked the scores, and he was dead.

_GOD DAMNIT!_ Will wanted to scream and throw his controller at the television, but he couldn't break the 3D 200 inch screen. It cost his mother THOUSANDS. Instead, Will just placed his controller down and checked the time on his phone. 4:00 A.M. Too early to sleep, but no, he needed to calm down. He switched the game system off, and he crawled into his bed and he got ready to sleep, but he heard a noise. A moan was heard, and a scream followed. _Must've not turned Last Survival off…._ Will thinks, and he gets up and checks his TV…. It was off. Will heard another scream, and he went to look out his tiny basement window. He saw something he'd never imagined, a zombie, like the ones from Last Survival. Clearly this was just something he was seeing, but he had to make sure. He heard another scream, his neighbor who was the sweet girl-next-door, Sydney, being attacked by a ruthless, real life zombie. Will grabbed something, he wasn't sure what, but he grabbed something, and he ran to save her.

The overweight man had never run so fast in his entire life. He ran over to the zombie, and he screamed as he smashed the heavy object he carried up the basement steps and outside across the lawn against the ghoul's head. A loud "SMASH" Was heard, and Will saw that the object didn't do anything but break into pieces! William was surprised, but he couldn't do anything about it, he had to keep going. The zombie didn't even stop in its tracks, but it did turn around and tried grabbing Will, who tried kicking the deadly enemy away, but his foot simply pierced through the skin, and went to the insides of the ghoul. Will screamed as he felt an arm grab him and pull him in from his shoulder, and Will tried to push away, but his lack of footing put him off balance, causing him to stumble right into the zombie's grasp. The zombie's head leaned in, right against the poor, frightened child of a man, but suddenly, "THWACK!"

_What the hell?_ William thought when he opened his eyes. He was on the ground, and he saw Sydney staring into his eyes. Sydney held a bloody crowbar in her hands, and Will stared at her blonde hair, which was somehow intact, even through the attack.

"You… You saved me" She says to him, and Will slowly gets up, looking around. He saw the object he grabbed in the heat of the moment earlier…

"NO! MY GAME ZONE!" William wanted to die. His favorite piece of equipment ever invented ever in the history of ever, was now in ruins. Will noticed Sydney sighing, and he was going to just soak up the fame for "saving" her. _I mean, if I didn't show up, she would've been zombie bait… HOLY SHIT ZOMBIES ARE REAL?! _William thought this to himself over and over. He looked over at Sydney, who was just staring down at the bloodied zombie. William refused to think that zombies are real, but the evidence is right in front of him. No, just a madman, who's strong enough to take a shot from a really strong gaming system…

"Wi-…Will?" Sydney looked at Will and called out his name.

"Yes Sydney?" Will replied, confused about everything.

"Well, I wanted to thank you…." Sydney says as she leans in and kisses Will. This was Will's first ever kiss. He was so lost in the moment, he put his arms around her and she pulled him into her house. She opened the door and led him into her living room, and the kisses kept coming. Will was pushed against a wall, and he feels around, trying to find something to hold onto to stand still, and suddenly, he feels something right before it falls. Suddenly, Sydney stops the kiss and screams. "FIRE!" she yells. Sydney points and it's a lamp catching flames to the carpeting. Will doesn't take any time out to think, he quickly runs and gets out of the house, and he looks around, and the creatures, the zombies, were now all in his neighborhood. He gulps down hard, and he gets in his car and drives. _Where to William? No clue, stop thinking and DRIVE!_


	5. Intro Pt 5, Faith

_**Prologue Pt. 5**_

Un sat watching destruction about to happen, and he was proud of himself. Never in the history of warfare has something like this been achieved, and now that he was able to control a horde of undead soldiers, he was able to take out all of the world's superpowers, starting with the United States, whom just gotten out of a major debt to the rest of the world due to 20 years of weak leaders, and now that they've just gotten out, the attack would be super successful. Even if the soldiers had failed, the lack of answers from their president answering this would cause enough drama to allow another attack, this time winning in a country of chaos. Then, the same thing would happen to Britain, then it would reach the rest of Europe, and then soldiers would be sent to Africa, South America, and Australia, and from there, any other countries would be slowly engulfed in the Solanum, and then Un would sit back and enjoy Kor-Russia, which would now be the only country left standing.

_5. Faith_

_When will it be time? _Faith, a Russian citizen, just waited. She stood above the city, watching from the second tallest building in the entire District 47, which was a piece of Eastern Russia in which Faith was born into. It was something in that new Kor-Russian language she didn't care enough to learn, all she needed to know was that it translated to "Termination", which was the building name for a reason. Every 7th day, a family would be forced to vote which member of their family was to be taken in as a prisoner to die a slow painful death. Of course, she known there was no "slow, painful death" for them. Un had always been known for those fucking experiments of his. He'd have that family member be apart of some twisted "Project". They wouldn't be a prisoner; they'd be a patient for some medical experiment. She remembered witnessing a recording of some (which were mandatory to watch if you were Russian born), and one really got to her, it was a grown man, maybe 37 in age. He was in a cage and he was injected with a type of steroid, and he was forced to stay in that cage while wild animals would claw at the cage. He knew he couldn't break out of the cage, and Faith would want to forget what happened next. The man started to scream after a week of being in the cage, and he started to act like a wild animal himself, clawing at the cage, scratching his own hands off the rough steel, causing scrapes all over his hands. He kept on clawing, and the skin around his hands were almost completely off before he started trying to bite the cage, which cracked his teeth, causing a flow of blood to drip from his mouth. He kept going though, and he forced himself against the cage over and over again. He was beyond insane. He had to be. He was claimed dead when he stopped moving. It was sickening.

Faith looked down at the District which used to be her home. Now she had no home. She heard a noise from behind her, she quickly grabbed her belt and pulled off the piece of metal in which her life relied on nowadays. She slipped the Makarov into her hands and turned around to see four Kor-Russian guards. Two had AKM2020's, a new model of the AKM which itself was a modernized version of the classic AK-47, while the other two had RPDP's, smaller editions of the RPD, and one shot quickly without thinking. Faith ran in a straight line, the RPDP bullets shooting in a straight line behind her. Faith managed to shoot her Makarov right at one of the guards with the RPDP's, taking him down immediately. The other three guards started shooting at Faith, but she managed to roll under the bullets, staying close to the ground until popping up in front of one of the AKM2020 gunners and grabbing the gun and flipping him over her with a Judo throw, keeping the gun. She then shot the other AKM2020 gunner, and then the RPDP gunner and the guard she flipped grabbed her leg and pulled her down. He stood up and held a knife blade up to her throat, getting ready to make a clean cut through the neck, but Faith grabbed the hand with the knife and pushed it away, and she turned around and kicked the man holding it, and he stumbled away, and she kicked him again, this time the man fell over the edge of the building, screaming as he slowly fell to the ground. Faith proceeded to go over to the entrance to the roof and opened it up, running down the steps into the Storage room. She looked at the crates lined up on her left and right, stacked on each other to the ceiling, and she couldn't believe it. She knew what was in there, the belongings of the Prisoners of War. She sighed and sat down.

_How the hell did it get like this?_ Faith wondered. She held her head, remembering the first day of Kor-Russia, when Un had finally won the war against Russia. Faith was much younger, and had lived many years in this awful country that would someday be Russia again. Faith was an outcast, as she was a Russian who still followed Russian customs, and she didn't bow down to Un like the others. She found out about a community living in privacy, "Russia's Escalation". They were a spy/assassin/militia group, and they were getting ready to slowly take back Russia. Faith was instantly in. Years later and now she was the deadliest assassin out there and an even better spy. _One day… One day…_ She always said to herself. She knew that one day; Russia would be back to Russia. She knew it. Suddenly, the door was busted open to the storage room, and Faith stood up to see a group of soldiers from the Kor-Russian army. Faith saw men with the RPDP, which was the standard infantry weapon in the Kor-Russian army. There had to be at least ten of them. Faith held her hands up. She slowly backed up, she knew she wasn't actually surrendering, but there was no way she could run forward and expect to stay alive. _Maybe backwards isn't the right way_ Popped into Faith's head as she looked aside to see the crates. Faith tossed a quick smoke grenade from her belt, causing bullets to fly everywhere as Faith ran and jumped on the stack of crates, and she started climbing. Faith reached the top and pulled one down, causing it to break on the ground, dumping out clothes and jewelry. Faith slipped into where the crate was, and she pulled out her Makarov, and she attached a sight from her pocket to it. It's a new form of the telescopic scope, which is worked like a modern day telescope, hence the name. She zoomed in to see the direct skin of one of the guards, and then zoomed back out to see the man's arm, and she moved it up to face the guard's head and she shot. The Makarov hit it spot on, but the noise sent the other guards onto her position. Faith leaned backwards, pushing crates against the walls in the enclosed area, trying not to get shot, and then she got an idea. She used her Makarov and pistol whipped a crate beside her, busting it open from the side, and she slid through the hole she created, and she hid in there.

Faith thought she was safe, but then she felt a clicking noise. She looked beside her to see a grenade that must've been tossed up on the crate she was just on, and she grabbed it and tossed it back, and it hit 3 of the guys and sent them down, tossing them in three different directions. Faith looked down at the result. _Hmm, must've been one of those newer grenades Kor-Russia's been working on in the war._ Faith knew one day she'd have to go down there. Faith took a gulp, she broke the crate again with another pistol whip, and she jumped.

The Russian spy landed on one guard and tossed him into another, and then grabbed his gun and shot them both, and turned around right into a smack against the head with a gun stock, and Faith fell down. The same gun is launched at her, going to stab her throat with the pointed tip, but Faith rolled over and grabbed the gun and flipped it around and shot it, hitting the guard multiple times in the chest with the RPDP. She smiled. Faith looked around and saw at least 20 guards up here now. Faith grabbed one nearby and held the gun to his head, declaring her hostage. Faith then pulled out the knife that she stole from the man on the roof and tossed it, hitting one guard in the eye. The others shot, but she used the hostage as a shield, and then she pushed the holed up body at the rest of them, and she tossed a grenade of her own that was a Russian Escalation exclusive. It was a modern form of EMPs, it only affected radios in Kor-Russian's headsets, and it caused them to play a loud screeching noise which caused deafness, possibly permanent. The guards started holding their heads, screaming in pain, and Faith laughed as she started shooting them all, until finally, she felt a pain in her back. Faith was brought onto the knee by the shot to the lower back. Faith turned her head around to see Vladimir Petrov, a former Russian, now Kor-Russian military leader. Faith was disgusted. The one person to bring her down was the traitor of Russia. No, she's not down yet. Faith tried rolling to stand up, but Petrov kicked her down and kept his foot on her chest and kicked her a few times, taking the breath out of her. Faith suddenly saw Petrov standing above her with his signature American Remington pistol, and he aimed it down, and looks ready to shoot it, before holding his headset.

"Yes? Yes, I do have her. You want her prisoner? Have it your way." Petrov said, and then he kicked her once in the chin, causing Faith to lift her head, and then Petrov stomped on her face, causing her to blackout.

When Faith awoke, she was tied against a board, in new clothing, which smelled. It must've been a Kor-Russian prisoner outfit. It was thin, like rags, and it must've been used many times before. She tried moving, but she couldn't, the ropes were too tight. She looked ahead of her to see a panel of glass, and on the other side, Petrov was watching her, a devilish smirk on his face. "Hope you enjoy your little trip, traitor."

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Faith wasn't allowed to answer. She was cut off by Petrov.

"You're being sent out of Kor-Russia, and as your punishment, well, you're being sent on a prisoner's boat." _Oh no!_ Faith knew what the prisoner boats were. They were where the experimented were placed and sent to fight, as an army. Why wasn't she experimented on? Maybe she was, but she didn't know it? No, she wouldn't have been tied up if she was experimented on. She glared at Petrov, and he waved her goodbye. "It's sad to see one of those fucking RE's leave without torture, but we need to get rid of you, so, goodbye." _He knew about us?! I need to warn the others! _Faith thought as she looked down ready to talk in her headset, but she remembered it wasn't there anymore. _Damn it! _Faith just laid there, she then was turned around by a guard she didn't realize was behind her. She could see the ship in front of her, which looked almost like an empty cruise ship, with boxes the size of sheds at the very edge. She sighed; she must've been going to be put in a box to be completely shut out from light, food, and water, only to die a slow death. The guard walked off the boat, and Faith looked up, waiting to see a box about to go down on her, but nothing happened. Instead, the boat started moving, and a shout was heard, something in old Korean, and a buzzer sounded, and the boxes at the end started opening.

Faith couldn't believe what she was seeing. The experimented, they had to have been, walking, no, slouching, out of the open boxes. They had a large spot on their right elbow, all of them, where they must've been injected with something, and the tone of the skin was as if something had sucked the color out of it. They began slowly making their way toward Faith, and she now knew why she was being put on this without the experiments, she was going to watch as her death drove closer to her. She just waited there and watched, and she realized that she had a chance to survive, there were no guards around to shoot her if she did get out, and all there was were the poor experiments. Faith turned her head around and bit at the rope on her arm, and she quickly tore it out of place with her teeth, allowing her hand to slip out, and she untied her other arm. Faith bent down and tried untying her legs, but they were both tied too tight. She used her hand to pull, and over some time, she managed to rip one of them off, and then she slipped out of the other. She looked at her hand, which was bleeding from the brush burn. She shrugged it off and looked ahead of her as she heard moans from the poor people rushing forward. She looked back to see that this WAS an old cruise ship converted into a prisoner ship. She wanted to laugh at the irony, but she looked forward back to the moaning people that she knew were supporters of Russia. She went forward and looked to make peace with one, but before she opened her mouth, she thought, she saw the lines of them which seemed to never end, and she realized they were all the same, the way they moved. They wouldn't listen to her, and then she realized it, they WERE trying to kill her. She moved backwards and looked behind her and searched for a gun, but she found none. She looked for SOMETHING to use as a weapon, and she grabbed a piece of the railing and torn it off from the side, creating a possible way out, but also a handheld weapon.

Faith ran at the group of the (former) people and hit one with the railing, and they just kept going. Faith moved backwards, quickly evading, and was surprised to see none of them running, but a few were reaching. Faith grabbed her railing and smashed it against the head of one, but he still didn't go down. Faith moved backward as a few reached toward her, and she threw the railing, hitting one of the mindless madmen in the skull, knocking him down. She used her leg to kick another in the back of the head, pushing them down, and then she continued to back up, and she realized that these were almost impossible to kill. There had to be a way though. Faith continued backing up, and she grabbed the board she was attached to earlier. _I have an idea._

Faith ran forward, hitting a group of the mob creeping towards her with the board, and it seemed to hit the first row and stop, and then continue, and Faith looked to see what happened, and she saw that the board was going THROUGH them. She thought she had them killed, but the tops of them, they crawled on top of the board, chasing after her. She pushed the board forward and let go, and she rolled backwards off the impact, landing on her feet, and she ran backwards even farther, and she realized that if she didn't do something soon, she was going to get attacked by these beasts of humans. She kept going backwards, and she then realized that soon, she was going to reach the back of the ship. She looked over her shoulder and glanced out at the ocean waters behind her, and surrounding her, and she looked back ahead at the horde, crawling or walking, approaching her. She had to think fast.

Faith looked ahead of her, gulped, and ran towards the crazed beings. She managed to slip around, using the handrails to run across carefully, and she managed to make it to the other side, before realizing it was just as filled with the mindless drones as the side she escaped from. Faith looked down and saw another railing. _If I can grab onto that, maybe I'll be able to pull myself onto the bottom deck…. _She jumped, and everything seemed to slow down. She reached her arm out to grab onto the railing, but it slipped. She found herself looking face down at the sea's surface, when suddenly, she felt her foot latch onto the side, and her leg started wrapping around the railing. She was a lucky woman. She pulled herself up and got onto the deck, breathing heavily with her heart pumping like it never has before. She was a dangerous spy who's done MANY things, but she's NEVER been this scared in her life. She heard countless moans from above her, and she couldn't dwell on that. She knew she had to keep on going, and deal with them later. Faith continued walking, and she saw a door, and opening it, she found the control room.

The control room was generally large, as it took up the room of maybe a full trailer. Scattered were pieces of machinery, wires, equipment, and satellites. Faith looked around for a control panel, and after searching, she found a large wire with switches on it. She tried reading the switches, but the writing on them was Kor-Russian. The moans she heard were getting louder, and then a loud "SPLASH" was heard. Faith stopped, and she heard more moans. Faith looked out of the control room to see that the people form the top deck had actually pushed them over, and about half of them were making their way onto the bottom deck, while the others went right into the ocean. Faith had to figure something out. She grabbed a piece of the machinery and tore it out, causing sparks and a sudden beep was heard, but that was all, shockingly. She tossed the small circular device outside of the control room, and it crashed onto the deck. A flame blew up in its place, and the moans were still heard and the people walked right through the fire, being lit in the process. Faith saw these devilish people walking through fire, and now ON fire, and she didn't know what to do. She saw the rest of the boat start to catch fire, slowly and slowly the flames engulfed her. Faith was tough though, and she got an idea. She yanked out a few wires, cussing a cut in her hand in the process, and she closed the door to the control room and started wrapping it shut, manually locking it. She heard banging on the door, and a fist broke through the door. She sat down and used her feet to hold the door in place, trying to keep it from breaking completely, and then she saw the smoke. She turned around to see the wires she had pulled from had caused a flame from the sparks. She stood up and the door suddenly toppled over. She quickly grabbed the door and yanked it away from its slot, and she tossed it at the roaming fiends, slowing the first row, but the voluminous amount would start flooding the room, all on fire, and Faith kept leaning backwards, going against a wall, and she took one more step, and suddenly, the wall broke.

Faith landed backwards onto the broken door, which hurt her back, but luckily kept her afloat. She looked at what had happened, and she saw where she fell through flames were completely eating up the boat, and just as it scorched the wall behind her, she had fallen through. Faith sighed of relief, but now she was out in the middle of the Ocean on a tiny piece of wood. Faith just waited there for a minute and watched as the people tried escaping the flames by walking out the hole Faith did, but they would be completely devoured by the flames by then, and by the time they'd reach the water they were already started to turn to ash. Faith saw the flames start to go away on the boat, as there was almost nothing left to catch on fire. Pieces of wood had shifted away when it started breaking down, and Faith used her arms to paddle herself to one, and she quickly got on it. She laid there, on the large piece of wood, easily the size of a room, and she looked up at the sun, but she was quickly flipped over. She screamed, but it was soon silenced by the water filling her mouth. She was trying to get back up, but something grabbed onto her, a hand. She kept trying to make it to the surface, but the thing was like an anchor, weighing her down. She kicked her leg over and over, but the person or thing wouldn't let go. Faith got her hands up on the wood and yanked it, trying to pull herself up, but all she got was the wood flipping viciously again, and Faith slowly started to go down, and she thought this was it. She thought that THIS was the end.

Something saved her. What? No one knows. All she knows is that something swam by and devoured that thing holding her, and the weight was lifted. The grip was still there, but it didn't weigh much at all. Faith got back on top of the board and unwrapped the thing, which was revealed to be a pale white hand, from her ankle. Her ankle was bleeding now and she placed her foot in the water and let it just soak. She winced a bit, as the salt seemed to be the first thing she felt against the cut, but she then managed to relax. She started paddling with her hands, where to? She didn't know. What she did know was she was going to make it out of this alive, she had to. She was going to return to Kor-Russia if she went there just to die. She had to return to her homelands.

Faith had fallen asleep, and when she awoken, it was dark. Faith looked around to see the night sky and she saw something on the water's surface. She paddled herself over to investigate to reveal that it was a small shark, which was dead. Faith had thought maybe the same thing that stopped the person from grabbing her killed the shark. She wanted to eat the shark, but had nothing to cook with, and eating raw shark could be dangerous. She decided, however, to keep the shark along, in case she'd need warmth or food once she reached land. She grabbed the shark and placed it's head on the "raft" and tore a piece of her rag clothing off, an arm sleeve, and she tied it to place. She lay back down to rest, tired from the event, but as she closed her eyes, she found the same image. The burning men and women were coming after her, and they weren't stopping.

Faith had been on the waters for weeks, doing nothing but paddling, and her arms were getting tired. She had grown hungry; eating nothing except for whatever non-fish was along the surface. She'd found a fish before, but when she tried skinning it with her bare hands, she realized she was too weak from starvation. She tossed the fish back and kept searching. She knew she couldn't last like this; the hunger would get to her. She knew the sea water had, as she had been seeing illusions of land all week, but when she went towards it, it moved farther away like the moon. She had kept going, and she pulled herself towards the land, but it stopped moving away. She kept paddling faster and faster, and she smiled, something she hasn't done in weeks. She found land.


	6. The First Alliance

The First Alliance

Jackson

Friday, August 13, 2021. 0600 hrs

_What the hell have I gotten myself into? _Jackson thought as he sat in the rumbling helicopter seat. After his CO had debriefed him on the shit that went down in Kor-Russia it still made his head hurt. The general seemed almost relieved that the senator was dead. _What could that poor bastard have known_? Apparently not enough to get his fucking head down in time. Oh well he was going home now. As he looked around the plane Jackson noticed something that caught his attention. About two seats over from him he saw the smallest navy SEAL he'd ever seen. He was about 5'2" and 150 lbs. Jackson, being 6'4" and 220 lbs. himself, had never seen such a shorty make the cut. Normally you had to be at least 6 ft. tall to make it into the SEALs. _I wonder what this dude must've done to get through_. "Yo, Sergeant Tate!" he called to the munchkin, "where you from?"

Tate looked around to see who had said his name. He realized who it was and his face lost its scowl, "Pennsylvania, sir!" he shouted back.

"No way! Me too!" Jackson screamed back. They fistbump.

"When we get home how about sharing a few beers with me and the Mrs.?"

"Sounds like a plan bro. I'm sure my girlfriend wouldn't mind coming along," Jackson called back._ Fiancé_, His mind said. _Not yet._

Their chopper touched down at 5:00 p.m sharp and they decided to meet at the Irish pub downtown around 8:00ish. Jackson climbs into his old, beat-up ford F-150 and starts the drive home, one hand on the wheel, the other, fingering the ring in his pocket when not shifting. He planned to propose that night at the bar.

1930 hrs

Jackson picked up his phone and unlocked it. The Apple company had gone down the drain in 2018 and the new leading phone was Samsung. The new phone was called the "Destiny 3". It had an interactive pop-up interface that allowed you to scan your finger print and project the touch screen into the air. He clicked on the contact icon of Kyla. After three rings she answered, "Hello?"

"Hey baby? It's me, Jackson," he said to her.

"OH MY GOD! Hi sweety! I've missed you so much! Where are you? When can I see you?" She screamed into the phone.

"Soon enough baby. Listen do you remember the place we first met? That pub down on main street downtown? Meet me there at 8:00. Me and a buddy are meeting there with him and his wife and wanted to know if we wanted to join him,"

"Oh, yeah I'll meet you there! I love you,"

"I love you," Jackson said and hung up. He walked over to his dresser and picked out a plain, white collared shirt and blue jeans with tears in it, his favorite jeans. He made sure to place the ring in his pocket before heading out. He got to the bar and saw Deegan sitting there. When Deegan saw him he motioned for him to come over.

"Hey what's goin on?" Jackson said when he got to the table.

"Nothing much. Oh, by the way, my wife couldn't make it she got held up the hospital. She works at the hospital as an administrative nurse. They're getting swamped right now,"

"Hey, it's cool bro," I think Kyla should be here in a minute… oh, here she comes,"

_ Damn _Jackson thought, _she looks amazing. _And amazing is accurate. Kyla was dressed in a pearl colored, strapless, low neckline dress. As she walked her honey golden hair waved behind her. Jackson stood up and walked towards her and gave her a hug. He could feel her heart beating. He pulled away from her and kissed her. He noticed her eyes tearing up.

"You look amazing. I can't believe you're actually here!" Kyla said.

"Not as amazing as you so. And is everything ok? You look worried,"

"It's nothing. I'll talk about it after we sit down. So it this your friend?" she said motioning to Deegan.

"Oh, yeah. Kyla, this is Deegan. Deegan this is Kyla,"

"It's pleased to meet you. Jackson has told me so much about you," Deegan said, shaking her hand delicately.

"Oh, really? I hope it was all good," she said with a sarcastic smile.

"Nothing but," Deegan responded.

They sat down and ordered their food from the waiter. About 30 minutes into the meal they start hearing a commotion outside the restaurant.

"What the hell?" Jackson said and walked over to the window.

Outside he say the most terrifying scene. People running and being tackled by other… well, Jackson couldn't describe them as people, but human-looking decaying things. As soon as he registered what he saw as _zombies _(Jackson used to be into zombies and had almost ordered that new zombie game that had came out) one had wandered in the door. He heard a scream and a groan as he drew his knife which he had always kept strapped to his belt along with his military grade M9 pistol (he was a fan of the older guns), and ran toward the grotesque creature.

Right then his mind went into autopilot. He ran toward the zombie and time seemed to slow down. He raised the knife and ducked under the zombies strike. He came up inside the zombies guard and stabbed him through the eye. The creature dropped right as a car crashed through the restaurant. Driving the car was a semi-overweight man who looked dazed but ok.

Kyla came over to Jackson and grabbed his arm, "THAT'S WHAT IN WANTED TO TELL YOU ABOUT," she yelled "I HIT ONE OF THOSE WITH MY CAR A DAY AGO!"

"Kyla that's a zombie… oh shit… don't worry I know what to do, but first I need to check on this guy," Jackson said.

He walked over to the crashed vehicle and bashed the window in as the door was stuck. "Hey buddy!" He called to the man in the car, " Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine," The man said. He looked about 35 a couple years older than Jackson.

"What's your name?" Jackson asked him.

"Will. Will Sheppard," he said.

_ We need to get out of here, _Jackson thought, _this is just the beginning._


End file.
